M. Marta Guarna, Ph. D.

Research and outreach on honey bee health and pollination with BC and AB migratory colonies. Honey bee queen fertility, gut microbiome, infection diseases.
Current research and/or projects
- Microbiome and 'omic tools for assessing honey bee health. AAFC – Genome Canada collaboration
- NGS of Bees and Pollen for Biosurveillance of Agricultural Pathogens and Invasive Species. AAFC – CFIA collaboration
- Blueberry Pollination and Bee Health. Stakeholder funded
- Honey bee queen health and fertility. Local production of honey bee queens in Canada
Professional activities / interests
- Chair, Research Committee, Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA)
- Supervision and mentoring of Post-doctoral Researcher, Research Assistant and students
Education and awards
- PhD, New York University, Biology Department
- Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry
Key publications
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Liu, X.; Floate, K.D.; Gorzelak, M.A.; Holman, D.B.; Hrycauk, S.; Kubota, H.; Lupwayi, N.; Neilson, J.A.D.; Ortega Polo, R.; Petri, R.M.; Tran, L.; Wang, H.; Wilches, D.; Yang, X.; Zorz, J.; Guarna, M.M. Prairie Agroecosystems: Interconnected Microbiomes of Livestock, Soil and Insects. Agriculture 2023, 13, 326. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13020326
2023 - View publication details
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Wood S.C., Masood F., Thebeau J., Cloet A., Kozii I.V., Brown B., Zabrodski M.W., Biganski S., Obshta O., Koziy R.V., Klein C.D., Ngeleka M., Foster L., Guarna M.M., Simko E., Ruzzini A. (2022) Identification of genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance and virulence in Canadian isolates of Melissococcus plutonius, HiveLights. Winter 2022, 35(1): 19
2023 - View publication details
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Jose MS, Masood F, Thebeau J, Biganski S, Raza FM, Kozii I, Zabrodski M, Guarna MM, Simko E, Wood S. (2022). Characterization of Melissococcus plutonius persistence in adult worker honeybees. Entomological Society of America, Joint Annual Meeting, November 13 – 16, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
2022 - View publication details
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Raičević J , Cunningham M, Griffiths JS, Wu L, Pernal, SF, Deckers T, Tran L, Ortega Polo, Zorz J, Clarke K, Newman T, Lansing L, Rott ME, Bilodeau GJ, Bishop C, Jabbari H, Guarna MM (2022) Honey bees as biomonitors of plant pathogens, pesticides, and antimicrobial resistance. EurBee 9 – 9th European Congress of Apidology Proceedings, p. 352, 20-22 September 2022, Belgrade, Serbia. (Poster) https://zenodo.org/record/7239012#.Y4BgMnbMKUk
2022 - View publication details
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Bixby M, Polinsky M, Foster LJ, Guarna MM (2022) Exploring The Gap in Blueberry Pollination: Honey Bee Colony Shortage and Limited Pollination. Hivelights Fall 2022: Vol 35 #4 p22-23.
2022 - View publication details
https://honeycouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Hivelights-Fall-2022.pdf
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Pernal SF, Borba R, Hoover SE, Currie RW, Guarna MM, Giovenazzo P, Zayed A, Foster LJ (2022) Analysis of pathogens associated with winter colony losses in Canada. 47th International Apimondia Congress, pp. 42-43, 24-28 Aug 2022, Istanbul, Turkey.
2022 - View publication details
https://www.apimondia.org/uploads/7/6/4/3/76436993/47th_apimondia_congres_abstract_book_compressed.pdf
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MacInnis C, Guarna MM, Luong LT, Pernal SF (2022) Three’s a crowd: How honey bees respond to infection with Lotmaria passim and Nosema ceranae. 2022 American Bee Research Conference, 13-14 Jan 2022. (Virtual Meeting) Bee Culture (in press).
2022 - View publication details
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Bixby M, Payne A, Polinsky M, Guarna MM, Rangel J. (2022) The Impacts of Covid-19 on Beekeeping Operations in Canada and the United States. American Bee Journal February 2022 Vol. 162 No. 2
2022 - View publication details
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Vishwakarma S, Mesina L, Lam K, Ryabov M, Lansing L, Chen G, Guarna MM, Ortega Polo R. BeeBiome.info: a portal for increasing the accessibility of bee microbiome data. North America Bee Research Conference – virtual; Jan 13 – 14, 2022.
2022 - View publication details
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Cunningham MM, Tran L, McKee CG, Ortega-Polo R, Newman T, Lansing L, Griffiths JS, Bilodeau GJ, Rott M, Guarna MM. Bee-based environmental biomonitoring of pesticides, pollutants, and pathogens. North America Bee Research Conference. Virtual, Jan 13-14, 2022
2022 - View publication details
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Gladish DW, Rott ME, Guarna MM, Pernal SF, Griffiths JF, Bilodeau GJ (2022) Evaluation of plant-pollinator ecosystem health and rapid detection of plant and bee pathogens by high-throughput sequencing of European honey bee (Apis mellifera). Tri-Society Virtual Conference: Canadian Phytopathological Society, Canadian Society for Horticultural Science, Canadian Society of Agronomy, 2021, 5-9 July 2021 Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology (in press)
2022 - View publication details
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/07060661.2021.2009254?needAccess=true
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Cunningham, M.M., Tran, L., McKee, C.G., Ortega Polo, R., Newman, T., Lansing, L., Griffiths, J.S., Bilodeau, G.J., Rott, M., Marta Guarna, M. (2022). Honey bees as biomonitors of environmental contaminants, pathogens, and climate change, 134 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108457
2022 - View publication details
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Bixby, M.E.F., Polinsky, M., Scarlett, R., Higo, H., Common, J., Hoover, S.E., Foster, L.J., Zayed, A., Cunningham, M., Guarna, M.M. (2021). Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Beekeeping: Survey Results and a Profitability Analysis. Journal of Economic Entomology, [online] 114(6), 2245-2254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jee/toab180
2021 - View publication details
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Tran L, Newman T, Cunningham M M, Lansing L, Gregoris A, Ortega Polo R, Guarna MM (2021) DNA sequencing approaches for gut microbiome analyses of highbush blueberry-pollinating honey bees (Apis mellifera). Entomology 2021, 69th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, 31 Oct - 03 Nov, Denver, CO, hybrid meeting proceedings
2021 - View publication details
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Cunningham M M, Tran L, McKee C, Newman T, Gladish DW, Lofano AK, Bilodeau GJ, Rott M, Guarna MM (2021). Honey bees as environmental biomonitors of pathogens and contaminants. Entomology 2021, 69th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, 31 Oct - 03 Nov, Denver, CO, hybrid meeting proceedings
2021 - View publication details
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Bixby MEF, Polinsky M, Scarlett R, Higo H, Common J, Foster LJ, Zayed A, Hoover SE, Guarna MM. (2021) Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Beekeeping. Entomology 2021, 69th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, 31 Oct - 03 Nov, Denver, CO, hybrid meeting proceedings
2021 - View publication details
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Bixby MEF, Polinsky M, Guarna MM. (2021) Impacts of Covid-19 on Canadian Beekeeping in 2020: Part 2, Hivelights Fall 2021, 34(4): 23-24 https://honeycouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Hivelights-Fall-2021.pdf
2021 - View publication details
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Tran, L., Newman, T., Lansing, L., Gregoris, A., Ortega Polo, R., Guarna, M.M. Analysis of sample types and sequencing methods for optimal characterization of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiome. Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, 25-30 July 2021 (virtual meeting)
2021 - View publication details
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Bixby MEF, Polinsky M, Guarna MM, Impacts of Covid-19 on Canadian Beekeeping in 2020: Part 1, Hivelights Summer 2021, 34(3): 25-28 https://honeycouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Hivelights-Summer-2021.pdf
2021 - View publication details
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Tran, L., Medici de Mattos, I., Ortega Polo, R., Cunningham, M., Simko, E., Guarna, M.M. Gut microbiome response to protective treatments against Nosema sp. Infection in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiome. World Microbe Forum, 20-24 June 2021 (virtual meeting)
2021 - View publication details
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Contact
Research facility
Expertise
Affiliations
- Adjunct Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia
- Member of BCHPA (BC Honey Producers Association), ESA (Entomology Society of America), CAPA (Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists)